Rodriguez's six-RBI night helps Tigers down Royals

Ivan Rodriguez hit a grand slam and Verlander picked up his
first win as the Tigers cruised to a 12-5 victory over the
Kansas City Royals in the first game of a three-game set.

The reigning American League Rookie of the Year, Verlander (1-0)
had yet to record a win despite allowing just one unearned run
through two starts. He yielded his first three earned runs and
five hits with no walks and six strikeouts over six innings.

"Those first couple outings, I really wasn't that far off,"
Verlander said. "A bunch of those walks could've gone either
way. Tonight was pretty similar. A couple of those
questionable calls went my way. I felt like my breaking ball
was a little better tonight for strikes."

Rodriguez's homer to deep center accounted for all four
first-inning runs for the Tigers. It was his first grand slam
since 2002 and marked the third consecutive game the Royals
allowed one.

"(Zack) Greinke threw me some good pitches," Rodriguez said. "I
had to foul off a couple of them just to stay alive but he
finally got one over the plate and I was able to hit it a long
way."

"He always hits me good," Royals starter Greinke said. "I gave
him four good breaking balls and he hit the fifth. At first, I
thought it was an out. Then, I remembered the wind and thought
it might be a double. Then, the wind carried it all the way."

Following an fielding error by Tony Pena Jr. with Detroit
leading, 5-2, Rodriguez lined a two-run double to left to give
the Tigers a 7-2 advantage in the second. His six RBI were the
most since he plated nine on April 13, 1999, against Seattle and
one more than he had recorded in his first 11 games this
season.

"I got two pitches to hit tonight and I was able to get both of
them, one off the end of the bat for a double and the other one
for the home run," Rodriguez said.

"He's the best catcher I have ever seen," Royals manager Buddy
Bell said. "He is the best combination of a offensive and
defensive player that there is. He's just a great player."

Carlos Guillen homered for the first time this season and
finished with four RBI.

Grienke (1-2) was abysmal in his third start of the season,
throwing only 29 of his 49 pitches for strikes in just
two-thirds of an inning. He allowed four runs and three hits
with three walks and a strikeout.

"I was shocked to see him in that position," Bell said. "He had
good stuff but got behind the hitters and was out of the strike
zone. There was nothing physically wrong with him. It was
just one of those nights. You have to give credit to the
Tigers' hitters."

"They wouldn't let me put them away," Greinke said. "It puts a
lot of stress on your arm and it make it tough to make good
pitches. It's something you should be able to overcome, I just
couldn't do it."

Ryan Shealy hit a two-run homer and Emil Brown scored twice and
had two hits for Kansas City, which dropped their season-high
fifth straight game.

ALAT DETROIT - SCORING UPDATETWO-RUN HOME RUN BY RYAN SHEALY (1) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN THE 7TH OFF JOSE MESA SCORED EMIL BROWN.CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 5, DETROIT 9DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: J BUCK (.450, 2-FOR-2, RBI)

ALAT DETROIT - SCORING UPDATESOLO HOME RUN BY CARLOS GUILLEN (1) TO RIGHT WITH 0 OUT IN THE 4TH OFF JASON STANDRIDGE.CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 2, DETROIT 9DUE UP FOR DETROIT: I RODRIGUEZ (.306, 2-FOR-2, HR, 6 RBI)